Asustek Computer Inc’s (華碩) PC shipments increased 8.6 percent year-on-year to 4.49 million units in the second quarter, driven by US tariff-related inventory buildup and desktop system upgrades, market researcher Gartner Inc said in a report on Monday.
The company secured a 7.1 percent share of the global market in the second quarter, ranking fifth place ahead of Acer Inc (宏碁), but trailing behind Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想), HP Inc, Dell Technologies Inc and Apple Inc, Gartner said.
Among the top five, only Dell saw a decline in shipments in the second quarter, down 3 percent year-on-year to 9.83 million units, the researcher said.
Photo: I-Hwa Cheng, AFP
Overall, global PC shipments rose 4.43 percent to 63.23 million units in the second quarter, from 60.54 million units a year earlier, it said.
The figure also grew 7.26 percent from the previous quarter.
The growth in global PC shipments in the second quarter was mostly driven by enterprise demand due to the upcoming end of service for Microsoft Corp’s Windows 10 operating system and a post-COVID-19 upgrade cycle, Gartner said.
In contrast, consumer refreshes slowed in the quarter, and many organizations chose to upgrade existing devices rather than purchase new ones with Windows 11, it said.
By region, shipments to North America dipped 0.5 percent year-on-year, while those to the Asia-Pacific market remained flat. Shipments to Europe, the Middle East and Africa rose 5.3 percent, reflecting stronger-than-usual seasonal demand.
Global PC shipments in the second half are likely to remain flat, as vendors have front-loaded inventory to meet demand, potentially leading to excess stock by the end of this year, Gartner research principal Rishi Padhi said in a statement.
Full-year shipments are expected to grow 2.4 percent this year from last year, driven by front-loaded inventory in the US in the first half and replacement demand stemming from the Windows 11 upgrade cycle, Gartner said.
Asustek in May said it began stockpiling PC and notebook inventory equivalent to three to six months of supply in the fourth quarter of last year.
Acer earlier this month said it had not front-loaded inventory for the US market in response to potential high US tariffs, with its inventory levels remaining normal at six to eight weeks.
Last week, International Data Corp (IDC) reported a slowdown in US PC demand in the second quarter due to tariff-related uncertainty, adding that PC vendors’ US sales could slow this quarter amid inventory buildup.
“Price increases will likely be dispersed over time and geography depending on vendor strategy, which can potentially lead to some attractive promotions as a way to clear inventory backups,” IDC worldwide device tracker group vice president Ryan Reith said in a statement.
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